That's 17 right-backs used in five years - now Portsmouth's never-ending search is again underway

Danny Cowley requires a right-back – as have all managers and head coaches during five seasons stranded in League One.

Since Pompey’s return to this level for the 2017-18 campaign, they have employed 17 different players in the right-back spot.

Of those, only Nathan Thompson has started more than 41 matches in what has proven to be an ever-revolving position, irrespective of the man in charge.

As Cowley prepares for the Blues’ sixth successive year in League One, he has released Callum Johnson and bid farewell to loanees Mahlon Romeo and Hayden Carter.

The head coach doesn’t regard Johnson as the answer, while talented pair Romeo and Carter are destined for Championship football following good Pompey stints.

That leaves a fit-again Kieron Freeman and Haji Mnoga as the right-back options presently on the Fratton Park books.

Clearly the head coach needs a fresh face for a role which, for large parts of the 2021-22 season, also necessitated the flexibility to operate as a wing-back.

During Pompey’s disappointing finish of 10th, he turned to Freeman, Johnson, Romeo, Carter and – against Doncaster in February – even Marcus Harness.

Now the hunt is on for a newcomer to challenge for the right-back berth in the forthcoming season.

Yet this is no new problem, with 17 different right-backs used over the course of five previous campaigns.

Of those, only Thompson, when fit, and Johnson, for one season, can consider themselves to have been first-choice.

Having replaced Wigan-bound Paul Cook in June 2017 ahead of their League One return, Jackett rubber-stamped a deal already in the offing for free agent Thompson.

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That season he also turned to Gareth Evans and Drew Talbot, who had both featured at right-back in the previous term’s League Two title win.

In addition, Anton Walkes was recruited on loan from Spurs, starting nine successive matches, while he even named Jamal Lowe there on two occasions.

For 2018-19, the campaign which came the closest yet to delivering Championship football to Fratton Park again, Thompson or Walkes were the usual right-backs.

With 36 starts, Thompson was clearly the favourite, while Academy product Haji Mnoga was blooded and once more there were two outings for Lowe.

Curiously, in the Checkatrade Trophy trip to Southend in January 2019, promising striker Dan Smith was also thrust into the position.

The departure of Thompson in the summer of 2019 saw Bolton recruited from Shrewsbury as a replacement, yet Jackett swiftly decided he wasn’t the answer.

Walkes, by now signed permanently, featured, as did Christian Burgess, switched from centre-half for three matches, and Mnoga.

Such was the right-back headache, the left-footed Brandon Haunstrup was asked to play there for five matches, even scoring at Harrogate Town in the FA Cup.

While Rangers loanee Ross McCrorie, a highly-regarded midfielder yet with Scotland under-21 experience at right-back, was shifted there for 11 games in an injury-hit stay.

Last season saw Jackett splash out £100,000 for Accrington’s Johnson in September 2020, who played 39 times there during that 2020-21 season.

Bolton, Mnoga, Harness and even Jack Whatmough (twice) totalled 14 games between them, emphasising Johnson’s grip on the role.

That brings us to the campaign which has just ended, with five players used – Freeman, Johnson, Romeo, Harness and Carter.

And the time-honoured search for a right-back starts all over again.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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